Township supports bill to reimburse disabled vets

Mansfield Township officials approve resolution declaring their support for state legislators who are looking to reimburse disabled veterans.

By: William Wichert
   MANSFIELD — Township officials are lending their support to state legislators who are looking to reimburse disabled veterans for all the property taxes they paid before their disability status was officially certified by the federal government.
   At the Jan. 12 Township Committee meeting, officials unanimously approved a resolution that declares their support for Senate bill S-1023 and Assembly bill A-1835, both of which extend the benefits granted to disabled veterans who are already exempt from paying property taxes.
   The bills, which were both introduced early last year, would require a municipality to reimburse veterans, who have been determined to be 100 percent disabled by the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA), for all property taxes they paid prior to the effective date of the federal determination. The state would then reimburse the municipalities for the amount of the taxes, the bills state.
   According to both bills, this legislation would correct a problem faced by many disabled veterans, who pay property taxes for several years while the DVA completes its determination of the veterans’ disability status. Currently, municipalities are not required to reimburse veterans for the taxes they paid before the federal determination.
   The determination of 100 percent disability is granted to a variety of veterans with permanent disabilities, including paralysis, amputation, and total blindness, according to the bills. The bills would also require municipalities to reimburse the surviving spouse of the deceased veterans with 100 percent disability.
   Although both bills are still being reviewed in different legislative committees, the Mansfield Township Committee has already started fulfilling the requirements of the proposed legislation.
   At their Dec. 22 meeting, the committee members approved two resolutions granting the combined reimbursement of over $3,000 in property taxes to two veterans that have been declared 100 percent disabled.
   "The (reimbursement) numbers are meaningless, compared to the number of lives that were lost and the number of limbs that were lost," said Township Committeeman Jaime Devereaux in a phone interview on Monday.
   "They’ve risked their lives for us. There’s too many veterans who struggle to make it in the country, when they should have been rewarded," he said.